When I bake a bread in my oven, I sprinkle some flour on the pan. But when it's half the baking time, the bottom of burger buns or baguettes become far too brown when the bread itself is not done yet. I wonder what can I do to keep their bottom less brown and be able to let the bread stay more in the oven for the surface to turn goldish brown. Is it because of flour sprinkling? Will greasing the sheet pan help? Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Bread – How to make the bottom of breads bake a little slower so that the whole bread could stay longer in the oven
breadovenpan
Related Solutions
You may wish to try a dark colored baking sheet, such as this one from Chicago Metallic (not an endorsement, I haven't tried it.)
The dark finish will help absorb radiant heat, which is a major mode in baking, and better brown the bottoms. In fact, such a tray probably would bake too fast for the bottoms of cookies.
Buttering it will also help conduct heat from the pan to the bottom crust, although you will also get a touch of that almost-fried texture (I like it, but it might not be what you have in mind).
What kind of salt are you using?
In the presence of iodine, starch can turn a surprisingly purplish-black color. This phenomenon has be leveraged for many decades in medical examiners' offices, to help determine the contents of a last meal in a cadaver (pardon the unappetizing digression).
Iodine is an essential nutrient, vital for the proper functioning of our thyroid (read more about Iodine Deficiency) that has relatively few ways of entering our bodies through our diet other than through shellfish, meats, eggs, and some dairy products.
One way to combat the problems of iodine deficiency is its addition to our salt, which we consume in predictable quantities and never goes bad. Table salt contains up to 25mg/kg of iodine and that number has been on the rise since its safety and helpfulness have been demonstrated repeatedly. Sea salt contains some iodine, as it is naturally occurring in the ocean, but in a much smaller quantity.
Maybe when you were at the beach, your salt supply changed to sea salt or an uniodized version and and when you returned and used the regular Iodized Morton's or Iodized sea salt.
Related Topic
- Baking in gas oven does not brown the top
- Bread – Does 100% rye sourdough bread always have a sticky crumb? How to make it stick to the knife less
- Baking – How to avoid elephant skin on no-knead bread
- Baking – New bread maker asks: how to make a bread loaf stay ‘firm and solid’ without a loaf pan
- Baking – Bread cracks in the oven
- Bread – Undercooked French Bread in Bread machine
- Bread – Why is the baguette type bread coming out almost flat
Best Answer
First, you can bake the bread on a higher rack.
Second, you can turn up the temperature of the top heating element.
Third, you can use a less heat conductive pan.
Fourth, you can use a wash on the bread which turns brown quicker than normal dough. Egg yolk browns very nicely. On lean breads, a milk wash also does well.
The way you describe it, you indeed have to address the issue. But be careful not to overdo it. To get well risen bread, you want to have higher temperature on the bottom than on the top, so the upper crust won't set too early. You will have to test your way changing the conditions towards the optimum.